Sometimes The Truth Can Be A Vicious Lie
by ProLiferChelle
Summary: When a newcomer to Walnut Grove opens her own store, Harriet Oleson, with a little help from Nellie, reacts in her usual fashion. A story with a moral, but many stories on LHOTP have morals. Rewritten, slightly fleshed out, and reposted. Characters not invented by me are the property of Ed Friendly Productions and NBC Productions.


**"The nerve of some people," Harriet Oleson sniffed indignantly, stalking into the Mercantile. "The unmitigated** **_nerve_**** of some people!"**

**"Who, or what are you talking about?" Nels asked.**

**"That new woman," Harriet answered. "She has actually opened her own store. She calls it Emerson's Emporium. Honestly!  
>Of all the pretentious names!"<strong>

**"Now, Harriet, there is no law against somebody else opening a store."**

**"But what if our mercantile starts to lose business to this, ugh, Emerson's Emporium?" Harriet demanded.**

**"You know," Nels said reasonably, "a little healthy competition could turn out to be good for Walnut Grove, and for us.  
>And Mrs. Emerson has every right to have a store of her own."<strong>

**"If she really is **_**Mrs. **_**Emerson."**

**"What do you mean by that, Harriet?"**

**"Well," Harriet said, "she **_**claims**_** to be a widow, but can she **_**prove**_** it?"**

**Nels knew by experience that there was no use, absolutely none, in arguing the point.**

**"I'm going for a walk," Nels said.**

**"We're not finished discussing this," said Harriet.**

**"I'm finished discussing it, Harriet."**

**Harriet wisely... or should I say "craftily?"... dropped the subject. She could wait. She was sure that, in time, she would  
>find <strong>_**some **_**way to discredit her competitor, and perhaps, even get her to leave Walnut Grove.**

**####**

**A few days later, Nellie came home from school, walked into the Mercantile, and helped herself to a stick of peppermint. Nels  
>was not in the store.<strong>

**"Mother," Nellie said, sucking her candy, "I have something to tell you. Something about that Mrs. Emerson,  
>and believe me, you'll want to hear this."<strong>

**"Oh?" **

**"Yes. Today during recess, Edith Emerson... Mrs. Emerson's own daughter... told me that her mother just loves rye."**

**"What?!" Harriet gasped.**

**"Mrs. Emerson just loves rye," Nellie reiterated. She went on to repeat exactly what Edith had said.**

**"Well," Harriet said, "we need not mention that part. And let's not say anything about this to your father."**

**"Of course not," Nellie agreed, smirking.**

**Yes. Edith Emerson had said that her mother loved rye. Nellie had heard her, and so had Mary and Laura Ingalls. But Miss Beadle had sent  
>Mary, Laura and Carrie home early with what turned out to be chicken pox.<strong>

**#####**

**Harriet Oleson, of course, lost no time in sharing what Nellie had told her, or rather **_**part**_** of what Nellie had told her, with anyone who would listen to  
>her. And, unfortunately, quite a few people did listen to her. So many of us have a taste for gossip, as long as it isn't about ourselves.<strong>

**However, to their credit, most parents did not forbid their children to play with Edith. On the contrary, they said things like,  
>"You must be very, very kind to Edith Emerson. Poor child, having mother like that!"<strong>

**Their kindness, their compassion, however, did not extend to Mrs. Emerson.**

**"Good morning, Mrs. Jones. That's a lovely hat," Mrs. Emerson greeted a neighbor.**

**"Hmmmph!" sniffed Mrs. Jones, walking by with her nose in the air.**

**Several minutes later, Mrs. Emerson saw a lady who, several days ago, had come in to Emerson's Emporiumfor some narrow pink ribbon.**

**"I don't have any right now," Mrs. Emerson had had to say, "but I'll be glad to order some."  
>Now she said, "I'm glad I ran into you. I've got that ribbon you wanted."<strong>

**"I've changed my mind," the lady said.**

**"You don't want the ribbon?"**

**"I don't want to buy anything from you," the woman snapped. "I'll do my shopping at Oleson's Mercantile. And please do not  
>speak to me."<strong>

**"Why are you so hostile towards me all of a sudden?" a hurt, puzzled Mrs. Emerson asked.**

**"I do not owe a woman like you any explanation. I just feel sorry for that poor daughter of yours."**

**At first, Mrs. Emerson thought that these were just two isolated incidents. She soon found out that she was mistaken. She  
>had, for no reason that she could figure out, become the town pariah.<strong>

**Nobody invited her into their homes for a meal, or just for a little chat.**

**And, to Mrs. Emerson's great dismay, (and Harriet Oleson's even greater satisfaction), Emerson's Emporium soon had no customers.  
>None. Those who <strong>_**had**_** shopped there when the store first opened now returned, apologetically, to Oleson's Mercantile.**

**####**

**Several days went by. The Ingalls girls recovered from their chicken pox. **

**Harriet Oleson saw Caroline Ingalls, who had been the first costumer Mrs. Emerson had had since the rumor about her had started,  
>walk out of Emerson's Emporium with a package.<strong>

**"Really, Mrs. Ingalls!"**

**"Now, Mrs. Oleson," Caroline said soothingly, "a little competition won't hurt your Mercantile, now will it?"**

**"I'm not concerned about the competition," Harriet said. "I'm concerned about what people will say about **_**you**_** if they find out  
>that you went into <strong>_**that **_**store."**

**"Mrs. Oleson, I have the right to shop wherever I choose, and nobody has the right to say anything about it."**

**"Oh, that's right," Harriet said, "you don't know. You've been busy with your girls while they've been ill. How are  
>they now?" Harriet pretended to be interested.<strong>

**"They're fine now, thank you. They will be going back to school tomorrow. Now what is it that I don't know?"**

**"You don't know that Mrs. Emerson is just loves rye."**

**"Really?" Caroline asked skeptically.**

**"Really. Her own daughter told this to my Nellie the other day."**

**On her way home, Caroline Ingalls met several other women. Each one greeted her with inquiries about her daughters' health,  
>and then went on to tell her that she should avoid Mrs. Emerson, because that woman <strong>_**drank**_**.**

**Mrs. Emerson didn't seem like the type of woman who drank. Caroline resolved to find out the truth. But how?**

**####**

**"Caroline," Charles Ingalls said that evening at supper, "I heard a rumor in town today, and I don't know what to make of it."**

**"Was the rumor about Mrs. Emerson?"**

**"Oh, you heard it, too?"**

**"Yes," Caroline said. "According to Harriet Oleson, Mrs. Emerson's own daughter told Nellie that her mother just loves rye."**

**Laura looked at Mary. Mary nodded at Laura.**

**"Mrs. Emerson doesn't drink," Laura said. "That day we came down with the chicken pox, Mary and Nellie and Edith and I were talking  
>about what kind of bread we like best, and Edith said that corn bread was her favorite, but that her mother just loves rye."<strong>

**Mary and Laura nodded their heads.**

**"I'm glad we've gotten that cleared up," Charles said. "Now your Ma and I can save poor Mrs. Emerson's reputation before  
>things go any further."<strong>

**"I wonder," Caroline said, "if Harriet knew that it was bread, and not whisky, that Edith was talking about."**

**"Of course she knew," Mary said. "Nellie tells her everything she hears."**

**Laura looked thoughtful.**

**"What are you thinking, Half Pint?"**

**"Well, Pa," Laura said, "when Mrs. Oleson told people that Mrs. Emerson just loves rye, it was the truth, wasn't it?"**

**"In a way, it was," Charles said reluctantly.**

**"Then why doesn't it **_**feel**_** like the truth?" Laura asked.**

**"Because," Charles answered, "sometimes the truth can be a vicious lie."**


End file.
